


i could kiss your every scar until the wound is sealed

by My_King_And_Your_Lionheart



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Blood, Canon Compliant, Comforting Hug Pile, Crying, Dialogue Light, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Hurt/Comfort, It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better, M/M, Non Graphic Description of Injuries, Not Really Character Death, Serious Injuries, Sheith Week 2016
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-22
Updated: 2016-10-22
Packaged: 2018-08-24 01:17:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8350633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/My_King_And_Your_Lionheart/pseuds/My_King_And_Your_Lionheart
Summary: Shiro doesn't know how it happens, exactly, but one moment Keith is alive, and the next he isn't.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Talk About It by Paradise Fears
> 
> And never beta'd so please point out mistakes!
> 
> Also if you're worried, the character death is literally just for a hot second I'm just being dramatic, because I originally planned for this to be only hurt, and then somehow the comfort just popped up. Don't you hate it when that happens?

Shiro doesn’t know how it happens, exactly. All he knows is that one moment, there’s a Galran soldier with a nasty looking sword running at Pidge’s back, and in the next, Keith has taken her place, knocking Pidge aside and trying to fight back against the Galran with his bayard. But the hulking soldier had momentum on his side, and Keith’s blade goes flying-

There’s a split second where Shiro locks eyes with Pidge over the sword coming at Keith’s stomach, who looks _scared_ like Shiro’s never seen her look before. Then his entire world narrows down to the blade piercing through Keith’s armor, and somebody is _screaming_ , Shiro can’t tell if it’s him or Pidge or _Keith_ -

 _Keith_ , who is stuck on a jagged purple sword like some rag doll, dropping to the floor with a sickening thump when the Galran soldier pulls the blade back out of his stomach. Shiro’s vision goes _purple_ , and he doesn’t come back to himself until he sees all the other Galra they had been fighting on some ship somewhere to get at some kind of information on the floor, neat punches through chests and several decapitated heads rolling around. 

Shiro can’t be bothered to remember specifics, not when Lance is shouting over the coms ( _“Allura! Healing pod, right now! Keith is- he’s-”)_ and Hunk is trying to get Pidge up- Pidge, who is kneeling over Keith’s body, clutching him to her chest, her armor red where it _isn’t supposed to be_ , holding her bayard in an outstretched hand, protecting the boy who had protected her. 

Black is a presence in the back of his mind that he calls to, because Keith can’t be carried the 500 meters from the downed ship to where they left their lions, can barely be moved because there’s just _so much blood_. Shiro doesn’t know that last time he saw this much red but it was probably from the time he can’t recall, and even if he can’t remember he still knows that people don’t really survive through this much blood loss.

Getting Keith to Black is a blur, Shiro practically watching himself carry the wounded Red Paladin up the ramp into his own lion, who hasn’t stopped her comforting purr in the back of his skull. Getting back to the castle as quickly as possible isn’t a problem, not when Black is pushing her limits to help soothe Shiro’s worried mind.

When they finally get to the castle, Allura is waiting in the hangar with a floating stretcher, and Red is already there. Shiro carries Keith out of his lion and places him on the stretcher; he hates to ignore the tears already forming in Allura’s eyes, but they have to get him to a healing pod, _now._

Going at the fastest speed they can without upsetting Keith on the stretcher, the trail of blood they leaving dripping behind them is terrifying. When they get to the healing room, Allura grabs a pair of surgical scissors, cutting away the soft under armor that did _nothing_ to protect the boy wearing it. Looking at the wound up close and unobstructed, Shiro wants to be sick, or curl up into a ball or maybe do both because there is nothing clean about the jagged tearing of skin and red red _red_ of Keith’s blood. 

They lift him, and he’s lighter than he should be, paler than he should be, not moving as much as he should be for how much he must be hurting. Standing him inside the pod, Allura hits the panel to begin the healing process, and Keith is cut off from Shiro before going absolutely still. There is no steadying beep from the heart monitor installed in the healing pod, just a thin droning tone, and no, _Keith can’t be-_

Allura hits another panel, and the pod lights up with an electric shock that would’ve sent Shiro on his ass if he’d been touching it. The flat line continues, despite the minuscule twitching of Keith’s muscles. Another shock goes through the pod, and a small, desperate heart beat comes through the monitor. Shiro feels as though he could cry with how relieved he is. Doesn’t realize he already is until Pidge comes up next to him with a tissue, staying right next to him after he takes it. Lance and Hunk come to either side of him and Pidge, and their silent support is not what he needs right now. He needs to be alone, needs to crack, needs to not think about how close he was to losing Keith.

When Shiro closes his eyes to try and calm himself, the image of Keith bleeding on the stretcher is still burned into the backs of his eyelids, and the flatline is still ringing in his ears.

He collapses. Shiro crumples where he stands, and barely takes heed of Lance’s surprised outburst. His shoulder’s start shaking uncontrollably, and soon the rest of him follows, heaving with sobs. Pidge grabs his robotic hand, and Shiro’s first instinct is to rip it away from her, because Keith is already barely alive in a pod, he doesn’t need to be the reason Pidge is in one, too-

But he doesn’t because he can hear her crying, too, and feels unbearably young, because Keith was dying in Pidge’s arms after he saved her, and she’s the youngest out of all of them and they are all of them always so close to dying.

Lance clings to him next, wrapped around his shoulders, getting snot on Shiro’s armor that still had Keith’s blood all over it. Hunk is the last of the paladins to join the pile, and he nearly crushes Pidge into Shiro with how tightly he hugs them all.

Beside them, Allura is wiping at her eyes when her knees buckle, and she falls to the floor several feet from the huddle. Lance extracts himself from Shiro and Hunk to take Allura’s hand, pulling her to join them.

They stay like that for what feels like hours, listening as Keith’s heartbeat becomes steadier and steadier, and his complexion gains color. When they finally break apart to get food, Allura declares that Keith will only have to be in the pod overnight, which is still the longest any of them have had to take to recuperate, but it always could’ve been worse.

* * *

Shiro doesn’t sleep at all that night. He fakes going to bed for the others, but only an hour later he’s right back in front of Keith’s pod, staring at his- _boyfriend_ isn’t the right word, not when Keith is his only sense of safety and security, the sense of completeness he gets from the other man so much more than the word _boyfriend_ \- staring at Keith through the thin layer of glass.

Shiro isn’t quite sure how long he stands there (it seems like he’s not sure of a lot, lately), but it’s long enough for the castle’s lights to come back on in the facsimile of morning, and for Coran to sidle up next to him.

The Altean pressed on a few panels before Shiro heard the telltale hiss of the cryo-systems being deactivated inside the pod. Keith was coming back.

When the glass front of the pod retracted back into the floor, Shiro was on Keith before the other could do so much as open his eyes.

“Keith, it’s me. You’re safe.” Shiro’s voice cracked, and he could feel his eyes beginning to burn with tears. Keith blinked his eyes open slowly against the dim lighting of the healing room.

“Takashi? Where am- oh,” Keith’s hand moved to his stomach, where a shiny new scar rested right below his ribs, still crusted with blood. “I’m sorry. But, Pidge- I had to-” Shiro shushed him.

“I understand, Keith, I do,” he smiled gently. “Just don’t forget to block next time, okay?” Keith let out a weak laugh as more tears slipped from Shiro’s eyes. Shiro put his hand on Keith’s jaw, titling his head up to look him in the eyes. “I thought I’d lost you. There was a second when you didn't make it.” Keith’s eyes widened, and he looked down at his feet, pulling Shiro’s hand from his face to link their fingers together.

“You know I could never leave you, right?” Keith’s voice was almost a whisper, and Shiro had to move closer to hear it. “I love you.” 

It wasn’t like they’d never said it to each other before, both before and after Kerberos happened, but this was the first time they’d said it with other people in the room. Before, they’d had to hide their relationship, as it was against Garrison policy, and after, it had been a bit of a habit to say it over private coms in their lions before a battle, or alone in their room at night. But Coran was easily visible over his shoulder as Keith said the words again.

“Shiro loves you, too, baby.” The reply was whispered as delicately as Shiro could manage without breaking. “Now let’s go get you cleaned up, and then we’ll go see the others. Keith looked down at himself at the words, picking at the blood soaked waistline of the torn uniform with a grimace on his face.

“Sounds good to me.”

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I lowkey cried writing some of this. I love putting them through terrible things, but damn the happy ending always wins out. Tender loving sheith 5ever (god knows I can never end a fic anything but badly)


End file.
